Lost dog Tomah is found on teenager BWCA canoe trip

Five go in, six come out. A group of high school boys returned from their canoe trip earlier this week with an extra four-legged passenger.

Tomah, a shy Shetland Sheepdog belonging to a family in northern Minnesota, had been lost and alone in the woods for three days when five boys from Minnetonka High School unexpectedly came to his rescue.

The teenage boys- Nate Jensen, Jonny Croskey, Riley Nelson, Casey Halbmaier and Scott Kvidera- has planned an eight day canoe trip through the BWCA, ending with a pickup from Croskey's father, Tom, near Grand Marais. On night five, the boys arrived at their island campsite. They soon noticed a note, written with ash on a rock, reporting a "Lost dog," on the island and instructing, "Call DNR."

But the boys were quick from their cross-country team training at school, and decided to forgo the DNR to rescue the dog themselves. They soon noticed Tomah making appearances around the island, and tried to chase him down. Unfortunately, the pooch was extremely nervous and fled from the boys' attempts.

The boys called it quits for the night and set up camp, all the while listing to the distant noise of Tomah's desperate howls and barks.

On Tuesday morning, the teenage rescue crew cornered a resting Tomah in a grove of trees. The boys were finally able to grab the dog. They loaded Tomah into the canoes among the camping gear, and took off for Grand Marais. Once arrived, Tom Croskey drove Tomah and his rescuers to the U.S. Forest Service ranger station near Tofte, Minnesota. A poster in the station matched Tomah's name and photo with his owners' contact information, and the dog was eventually reunited with his worried family.

Though the Minnetonka boys had left for home before the rangers officially returned Tomah, the dog's owners expressed their thanks via phone call later that week, the Star Tribune reports.